Saliba sends scary message to Premier League defenders after Brentford display
William Saliba put in another classy display for Arsenal in their 3-0 win at Brentford. The 21-year-old gave the Gunners the lead after meeting a Bukayo Saka corner, before goals from Gabriel Jesus and Fabio Vieira increased Arsenal’s advantage.
The Frenchman is still very much in the infancy of his Premier League career, with this just his seventh appearance in England’s top flight, but he has been performing like an experienced pro. The defender once again caught the eye defensively in an Arsenal backline which, aside from the 3-1 defeat at Manchester United, have conceded just four goals in six league matche s.
He has shown himself to be one of the Premier League’s most impressive defensive performers so far this term, while he has also demonstrated an element of ruthlessness at the other end – scoring two goals this season from just three shots.
Saliba earned plenty of praise from Mikel Arteta post-match, with the Arsenal boss revealing why his performance was even more impressive than it first looked to the Gunners fans watching.
“He was superb,” said Arteta. “He hasn’t trained for 10 days because he had some discomfort, but he comes in and competes like that.
Not only the goal and his defending but he does the ugly part of the game that people won’t recognise. He deserves credit.”